Securities And Exchange Commission Commissioner Daniel M. Gallagher has earned a reputation as a bad boy - industry pundits have come to view him as the Scalia of the SEC. That's a mixed bag of a reputation, combining an admiration for one's intellect with questions about a lack of collegiality and the addition of a certain coarseness to public debate. No matter where you stand on such a personality, there can be little doubt that the staid worlds of the Supreme Court and the SEC are often refreshed and shaken by the addition of a lightening rods such as Justice Scalia and Commissioner Gallagher. Whether such catalysts ultimately strengthen or undermine those institutions is best left for history to decide. As to the ongoing debate, I leave it to each of you to choose your side.

[L]et me take a moment to stress that it is not, nor should it be, the SEC's job to eliminate all risk from the securities markets. If we tried to eliminate all investment risk, our securities markets wouldn't be as vibrant as they are today, and investors would suffer.

I'll give you an example. In 1985, the year Steve Jobs left what was then known as Apple Computer, Inc., the company's stock traded for about $2 per share. That low price reflected the difficulties and uncertainties faced by the company at the time, and investors risked losing part or even all of their investment if the company faltered or failed. In return for accepting that risk, that investor gained the opportunity - assuming he or she held onto the stock - to profit from Apple's eventual success. Today, Apple stock is now worth about $540 per share, meaning that someone who invested $2,000 in Apple stock in 1985 would, taking into account the stock's splits, be sitting on a $540,000 investment today.

That's a very different outcome than if that investor had put their money away in a savings account. Today's interest rates are at historic lows - around half a percentage point - so for the sake of argument let's multiply them by 10. That $2,000 investment in a savings account paying 5% interest, compounded on a daily basis since 1985, would be about $4,000 today, or double the initial investment. Not bad - but not too good compared to the Apple result of 270 times the initial investment.

Please don't get me wrong - traditional savings accounts and other low-risk or risk-free financial instruments and arrangements are crucial to our nation's financial infrastructure. They simply can't offer the same possibilities of high returns that our equity and debt markets - with the risks they entail - offer to investors. . .

No, I'm not going to pick sides on the debate between investing and saving. Yes, I have my opinions but I don't feel the need to inject them into this article. As with the provocative questions now added to the end of many books for the purposes of providing book clubs and classrooms with topics for discussion, I will present a few of my own:

What is the SEC's mission in 2014?

Should the SEC attempt to eliminate some risk in the markets, and, if so, what risk would be so designated?

Are the current securities markets vibrant, and what do we mean by that term?

Are investors' and depositors'funds equally safe in the respective brokerage and banking accounts?

BILL SINGER is a lawyer who represents securities-industry firms, individual registered persons, Wall Street whistleblowers, and defrauded public investors. For over three decades, Singer has represented clients before the American Stock Exchange, the New York Stock Exchange, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (formerly the NASD), the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, and in criminal investigations brought by various federal, state, and local prosecutors. He has the distinction of representing witnesses during Congressional investigations. In 2015, Singer achieved a significant award in excess of $1 million from the Securities and Exchange Commission on behalf of a whistleblower client.

Singer is presently Of Counsel to a law firm and the publisher of the BrokeAndBroker.com Blog, which was rated as one of the industry's top eight destination websites and the leading legal/regulatory blog by "Investment News."

Before entering the private practice of law, Singer was employed in the Legal Department of Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co.; as a regulatory attorney with both the American Stock Exchange and the NASD (now FINRA); and as a Legal Counsel to Integrated Resources Asset Management. Singer was formerly Chief Counsel to the Financial Industry Association; General Counsel to the NASD Dissidents' Grassroots Movement; and General Counsel to the Independent Broker-Dealer Association. He was registered for a number of years as a Series 7 and Series 63 stockbroker.

Singer regularly appears as a commentator on television and radio, and is frequently quoted in the press. He is an outspoken critic of ineffective regulation and an advocate for economic and political sanity.